The civil parish is formed by the hamlets of Cottam and Cowlam. According to the 2011 UK census, Cottam parish had a population of 108, an increase on the 2001 UK census figure of 74--the lowest population figure of any East Riding of Yorkshire civil parish in 2001.

Previously Cottam was a medieval village that was deserted. All that remains today is a small, derelict church (which itself dates from the 19th century).

In 1974 most of what had been the East Riding of Yorkshire was joined with the northern part of Lincolnshire to became a new English county named Humberside. The urban and rural districts of the former counties were abolished and Humberside was divided into non-metropolitan districts. The new organization did not meet with the pleasure of the local citizenry and Humberside was wound up in 1996. The area north of the River Humber was separated into two "unitary authorities"—Kingston-upon-Hull covering the former City of Hull and its closest environs, and the less urban section which, once again, named itself the East Riding of Yorkshire.

A Vision of Britain through Time also provides links to three maps of the East Riding, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey, illustrating the boundaries between the civil parishes and the rural districts at various dates. These maps all blow up to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.